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The New England Fishery Management Council has developed and recommended proposed specifications for the 2021-23 small-mesh multispecies fishery. This fishery manages four hake stocks targeted using small mesh fishing gear: northern silver hake, northern red hake, southern whiting (silver hake and offshore hake combined), and southern red hake. This Council-recommended action would implement small-mesh multispecies catch limit specifications for fishing years 2021 through 2023 based on the September 2020 management-track assessment, increase the whiting possession limit on trips using less than 3-inch mesh to 15,000 pounds, and reset the in-season adjustment trigger for northern red hake to the original value of 90 percent so that in-season accountability measures don’t unnecessarily restrict the fishery at a very low level of landings (the current trigger is 37.9 percent). The Council’s recommended catch limits would increase annual quotas for Northern red hake and southern whiting, and decrease quotas for northern silver hake and southern red hake. These specification limits are intended to keep the risk of overfishing within acceptable levels for these hake species; and to restrict excessive catch of the southern red hake stock, and enhance rebuilding.